Sumer
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "guardian" or "watchful".
Name Census estimates that about 1,451 living Americans carry the first name Sumer. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sumer today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sumer births was 1977 (86 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sumer. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Sumer with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.5K
~ 1 in 236,219 Americans
Peak year
1977
86 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2023 SSA rank
#17,318
Tracked since 1971
Census
Sumer in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,348 people with the first name Sumer, which placed it at #10,033 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#10,033
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,348 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
73.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sumer
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sumer is White at 73.5%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (8.9%) and Black (8.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Sumer described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Sumer at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White73.5% · 991
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.9% · 120
- Black or African American8.0% · 108
- Hispanic or Latino4.3% · 58
- Two or more races3.9% · 53
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 18
Popularity
Sumer: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sumer from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 433 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sumer by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Sumer during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sumers live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Sumer, while Oklahoma, Louisiana, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 32 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sumer
The name Sumer is believed to have originated from the ancient Sumerian civilization, which emerged in Mesopotamia around 3500 BCE. This region, located in modern-day Iraq, was known as the "Cradle of Civilization" and was home to one of the earliest known civilizations in human history.
The Sumerians developed a complex writing system, known as cuneiform, which was one of the earliest forms of written language. The name "Sumer" itself is derived from the Sumerian words "ki-en-gir," which translates to "land of the civilized lords" or "land of the cultivated plains."
The ancient Sumerian civilization left behind numerous historical records and artifacts, many of which reference various names and individuals. However, it is uncertain whether the name "Sumer" was actually used as a personal name during that time period.
One of the earliest known references to the name "Sumer" can be found in the Epic of Gilgamesh, an ancient Mesopotamian epic poem dating back to around 2100 BCE. In this epic, the character Gilgamesh is described as the ruler of the city-state of Uruk, which was located in the region of Sumer.
While the name "Sumer" may not have been commonly used as a personal name in ancient times, it has been adopted as a given name in more recent centuries. One notable individual with this name was Sumer Pasha (1852-1913), an Ottoman military officer and statesman who served as the Grand Vizier (prime minister) of the Ottoman Empire from 1909 to 1910.
Another historical figure bearing the name Sumer was Sumer Singh Suri (1866-1938), an Indian revolutionary and activist who played a significant role in the Indian independence movement against British rule. He was a prominent member of the Ghadar Party and worked tirelessly to promote the cause of Indian freedom.
In the realm of art and literature, Sumer Karahoca (1932-1992) was a renowned Turkish poet and writer. He was acclaimed for his contributions to modern Turkish poetry and his works exploring themes of identity, love, and social issues.
Additionally, Sumer Sivrioglu (born 1976) is a Turkish-Australian chef and restaurateur who has gained international recognition for his contributions to promoting and preserving traditional Turkish cuisine. He is the owner of several successful restaurants in Sydney, Australia, and has authored several cookbooks.
While not an exhaustive list, these examples illustrate the diverse backgrounds and accomplishments of individuals who have borne the name Sumer throughout history, serving as a testament to the enduring legacy of this name with ancient Sumerian roots.
People
Sumer + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sumer as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Sumer: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sumer?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,451 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sumer going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 236,219 US residents.
Is Sumer a common name?
We classify Sumer as "Rare". It ranks above 92.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,520 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sumer most popular?
The single biggest year for Sumer was 1977, when 86 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sumer is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sumer in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,348 people with the name Sumer, or 0.45 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,033 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Sumer in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Sumer?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sumer leans strongly female. 1,236 people counted with this name were female (91.2%), compared with 119 male bearers (8.8%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Sumer?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sumer is White at 73.5%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (8.9%) and Black (8.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Sumer most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sumer in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.5% (991 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Sumer in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sumer a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sumer in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Sumer still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sumer in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Sumer can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Sumer?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.